Do you prefer physical or digital copies of games?

[ryoohki]

Digital, I wait for steam special or buy keys online from people. I. Bought theift and South Park for the price of 1 game. Plus I don't have to speak to a retarded employee.. Don't know about you but here, they are pretty much totally full retard last time I've put my foot in a eb games.

[PGHammer]

While I keep every game I play, I have shifted to digital (PC only - don't own a console) for one reason - price.  It's gotten that you can play the various e-tail sources against each other to winnow out the overchargers, even in the US. (While everybody and their cousin has been pushing Deus Ex Director's Cut for $19.99 - including GameStop - GameStop also is offering the Augmented Edition for half that.  And exactly how much difference is there between the two?  Certainly not $10 worth of difference, even after the price cuts.)  I closed the deal on DE-Augmented yesterday, which makes the second deal in as many months through GameStop.

 

One other detail we keep forgetting about digital software delivery services (not just GameStop, but Steam, Origin, the Apple AppStores, Google Play, etc.) is that, in most cases, the biggest loss would be any un-synchronized saves to the service.  Otherwise, your purchases (and all your synchronized saves) are a download away.  Because I never resell my games, the losses are nil, and the savings can be decently large (quite aside from saving in fuel and aggro).

[protocol7]

For games, it's digital. It used to be physical, but with Steam it's redundant.

 

The last time was when I pre-ordered Just Cause 2 on DVD. It arrived a few days after everyone else had started playing it and once I installed it I never opened the box again. I back up all my games to an external hard disk for quick reinstalls.

 

Movies are the same now. I don't have a bluray drive so digital allows me to get HD video. Plus my stacks of DVDs were taking up enough space.

 

I don't buy that much music these days but if it's someone I'm really into I'll treat myself to a CD. Then I rip it to flac and, just like JC2, never open the box again.

[trag3dy]

I prefer physical. It makes it easier to reinstall a game. Plus I like to have something tangible in my hands to prove I actually own it.

[exotoxic]

Digital, unless it is significantly cheaper on disk.

[xplatinum]

Physical for now. I would go digital if it would be at a fair price. Don't see the point of buying digital at the same price as physical.

[123456789A]

Digital as long as I can redownload it any time in the future.

 

Disc would be nice if it could install and not require disc to be in the drive.

 

I really only like physical stuffs if it's retro gaming. Blowing out a NES game is part of the experience. Is there an emulator that emulates this?

[The_Observer]

cheapest.

[FarCry3r]

I prefer physical, my Xbox 360 games collection is testament of my physical-whoring (250 and counting), but I have at least half of my games on Xbox One which are digital. If MS put lots of discounts for the digital titles, I might go fully digital.

[The Evil Overlord]

Physical

It allows me to buy preowned (one of my reasons) and quite often I can find new titles that have been around for a while,

(example, GT prologue or whatever it was called, ?12, new disk for the ps3 about 8 months after it's launch, but in the playstation store, the digital was ?20 or something)

[PGHammer]

Physical for now. I would go digital if it would be at a fair price. Don't see the point of buying digital at the same price as physical.

In most cases, digital is cheaper - often considerably cheaper - than physical, even in the United States, which doesn't have as large a digital-delivery industry as the EU.

GameStop alone is the biggest example of the price gap, as their e-store is not just usually cheaper than other e-stores, but usually cheaper than GameStop's own physical stores.

 

One other point for digital - you never, as in ever, have to worry about lack of inventory.  (Again, GameStop is the most obvious example of this issue - of the seven GameStop physical locations within 25 miles of me, maybe TWO have any PC titles in stock; most are geared so heavily and obviously toward consoles that my finding such a wide selection on their e-store came as a major shock.  Even of the two that carry SOME PC games, neither carries even half of GameStop's PC game Top 25 on a regular basis - and that is merely during regular store hours.)

 

Yes - Collector's Editions are usually best picked up retail - I won't deny that.  However, what's included has to be worth the additional expense in the mind of the buyer.

[compl3x]

In most cases, digital is cheaper - often considerably cheaper - than physical.

That certainly isn't true in Australia. PSN, XBL etc. the price of a new release is always more expensive digitally.

[xWhiplash]

Digital.  I have too many CDs, cases, giant boxes, battle chests that are even bigger, DVDs, Blu Rays, ...

 

I have too much stuff I need to use three floors of the house.  I actually started re-buying digital versions of stuff I already have, so I can give those physical copies away and free up some space.

 

Especially movies and tv shows.  With iTunes (and I assume other services as well), you can start watching as soon as you begin downloading.  I have fast enough internet to where I can do that.

 

As for consoles, I go digital.  However, there are a few games I purchased that I had to get it physical.  They did not have digital versions of those :(

[xplatinum]

In most cases, digital is cheaper - often considerably cheaper - than physical, even in the United States, which doesn't have as large a digital-delivery industry as the EU.

GameStop alone is the biggest example of the price gap, as their e-store is not just usually cheaper than other e-stores, but usually cheaper than GameStop's own physical stores.

 

One other point for digital - you never, as in ever, have to worry about lack of inventory.  (Again, GameStop is the most obvious example of this issue - of the seven GameStop physical locations within 25 miles of me, maybe TWO have any PC titles in stock; most are geared so heavily and obviously toward consoles that my finding such a wide selection on their e-store came as a major shock.  Even of the two that carry SOME PC games, neither carries even half of GameStop's PC game Top 25 on a regular basis - and that is merely during regular store hours.)

 

Yes - Collector's Editions are usually best picked up retail - I won't deny that.  However, what's included has to be worth the additional expense in the mind of the buyer.

I was referring to retail store prices compared to PSN/XBL digital pricing. Tomb Raider is 59.99 digitally on PSN.

 

I was not talking about Steam either as I know you can get tremendous deals on there.

[Skyfrog]

I stopped buying retail CDs years ago, all digital now. Almost all of my game purchases these days are either on Steam or Good Old Games.

[Starbuck84]

I really don't have a preference. Digital or physical, it's all fine by me. The only thing I take notice of is the price tag. As an example: a digital copy of a game is 60 EUR, while a physical copy sets you back 45 EUR, I know I'm getting the physical copy. Or the other way around. Paying more for the same is ridiculous imho.

[PGHammer]

I was referring to retail store prices compared to PSN/XBL digital pricing. Tomb Raider is 59.99 digitally on PSN.

 

I was not talking about Steam either as I know you can get tremendous deals on there.

I was comparing all analog to all digital as far as PC games went - both Steam and Origin were part of the sampling.  (GameStop is a partner of both services; therefore, any price bias is due to GameStop itself - not necessarily Steam or Origin.)

Both Steam and Origin have had killer deals recently - however, my posts are meant to show that even those deals can be beaten, and quite legally.

[PGHammer]

That certainly isn't true in Australia. PSN, XBL etc. the price of a new release is always more expensive digitally.

Then the question needs to be asked - why is that the case in Australia, but not anywhere else, and especially not in North America?

[macoman]

Digital ftw!!! I hate to have disc everywhere... Prefer to have all my stuff inside the machine.... More convenient and easy!

[Daedroth]

Which ever is cheapest. If the physical copy is cheaper...I'll rip it to an ISO and get rid of the disc anyway.

[Brian M. Veteran]

Physical for the main consoles, digital for handheld consoles.

[Lovell]

I've lost way to many games which is why I prefer digital, I do miss reading the manuals while waiting for the game to install though.

[NeoWind]

Digital copies of games is hassle free and bugs free. The PS2 era reminds me of how messy the dvd can become overtime and you have to constantly make sure it won't scratch after one year.  

 

Do yourself a favor stop buying physical copies and you can help save the environment more than you think. 

[compl3x]

Then the question needs to be asked - why is that the case in Australia, but not anywhere else, and especially not in North America?

 

 

We tried to determine why Aussies pay more, we received condescending, arrogant responses.

 

Simply put, we are unfairly charged because we can be and because we tolerate it.

[i_was_here]

I prefer digital however I don't like having to redownload the entire game over and over. Having some sort of offline installer or ISO would be nice.